Joseph Prince - God's Answer For Life's Highs And Lows

They say that stress, when you're under stress, okay, it affects your body, especially chronic stress. It can cause cardiovascular problems, sickness, disease, and all kinds of conditions. Chronic stress, so what is that? It's trying to describe something that comes from the realm, something is gone awry, something is amiss in the realm of the soul, the mind, the emotions. Where do you feel depression? Emotions. Where do you have the dark thoughts? In your mind. That's your soul. God wants your soul saved, amen? Believers, this is for you. You are sent to this earth, amen? You live according to his riches in glory. And all the people said amen. Praise the name of Jesus, hallelujah.

God is good, amen. We are saved once and for all in our spirit, but we are in the process of renewing our mind. That's our souls. As we live in this world, we are being saved in our souls, amen. And that's where your feelings are also. That's the place where you suffer from depression, you have bad thoughts, you have struggles with sins, your thought life, all that is in the realm of the soul, okay? So, God wants that saved, and that is in the process of being saved.

Your colleagues, your friends, you know, they can say a lot of things against religion, okay? But you can say, "Look, Christianity, Christ did not come to give us a religion. He came to make dead people live," amen. Praise the Lord. Aren't you glad that we live on this earth, but we are citizens of heaven, amen? So, our resources are resources that come from heaven. You know, when an ambassador of a country goes to another country, regardless of how the country is, okay, whether it's a poor country, all right, you know, a country that's not developed just yet, but that messenger, that ambassador does not live based on the resources of that country. He lives on the resources of the country that sent him. His house, his car, everything that he has, his daily allowance and provisions are all given by the country that sends him.

You are sent to this earth, amen? You live according to his riches in glory. And all the people said, amen. Praise the name of Jesus, hallelujah. God is good, amen. Now, the Bible says in 1 Peter chapter 1, it says, "We are kept by the power of God through faith for salvation ready to be revealed in the last time". This salvation obviously refers to our bodily salvation. See, God is interested in the total man. God, you know, for a long time I used to think that once we are saved, God, you know, God got it, okay? He got what he wanted, because he wants man to be saved, amen, because of Adam's sin, the fall of man. And now God has accomplished that, in that he has wrought a perfect salvation and redemption for man.

Now man is saved. Which part of us is saved? Spirit. So, for the longest time, that's what I thought. But God's interest is saving us in our spirit man, that's what we call born again. Literally, you have a brand-new spirit, amen, created in righteousness and true holiness. Then God also wants to save, and now we are saved. We are saved once and for all in our spirit, but we are in the process of renewing our mind. That's our souls. There's another salvation called salvation of souls. Not many believers realize this, that there's a salvation that goes from the inside out.

And now, as we live in this world, we are being saved in our souls, amen. And that's where your feelings are also. That's the place where you suffer from depression, you have bad thoughts, you have struggles with sins, your thought life, all that is in the realm of the soul, okay? So, God wants that saved, and that is in the process of being saved. Now, when Jesus comes again, he doesn't say, "Well, is your soul saved or not"? No, all right, the term soul saved is used, you know, loosely, but actually the word soul there is referring to our soulish realm. You are tripartite. I've said before, you are a spirit, you have a soul, you live in a body.

God is triune, Father, Son, and Spirit. One God, not three God. One God, but three divine persons in God. God made you in his image, you are tripartite. So, God also wants to save your body, okay? So, once the soul is saved, the Bible says, "Beloved, I wish above all things that you prosper and be in health, even as your souls prosper". Can I have a good amen? Souls, all right? It is linked, it is linked. And now, medical science have realized that your soulish realm, they won't call it soulish realm, they say that stress, when you are under stress, okay, it affects your body, especially chronic stress can cause cardiovascular problems, sickness, disease, and all kinds of conditions. Chronic stress.

So, what is that? It's trying to describe something that comes from the realm, something is gone awry, something is amiss in the realm of the soul, the mind, the emotions. Where do you feel depression? Emotions. Where do you have the dark thoughts? In your mind. That's your soul. God wants your soul saved, amen? Believers, this is for you. So, this part here when it says, "Through faith for salvation ready to be revealed in the last time," in the last days when Jesus comes again, which part is our bodily redemption, our bodily redemption? That will also happen in one fell swoop... We have a brand new body.

The Bible says it will happen in an atomic second. The Greek says the word atomos, very quick. In the twinkling of an eye, it will happen. This mortal will put on immortality, and then straight away, I'm going to see my mom, all your loved ones who have gone on before, amen. First of all, we will see Jesus. That's the one I want to see above everyone else, amen. And I'm going to see my grandfather, and I'll see David, the man after God's heart. I'll see Solomon, his son. And we are all young, strong, and healthy in our bodies. And that's why the Bible says that when everyone stands before God, they will stand before God, spirit, soul, body. God also wants your bodily redemption. Meanwhile, on this earth, this body that we have, the Bible uses the word, "Though our outward man perish," his perishing is decaying. "Yet the inward man is renewed day by day".

And that's what you want. You want to cooperate with God in having the inward man renewed, renovated, amen, repaired, restored, day by day. And we saw in 3 John 2, it has an effect on your body. And what effect is that? The effect is found in Romans 8:11. It says, "If the Holy Spirit that raised Jesus from the dead, if he dwells in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also give life, quicken your mortal body". Now, some people, commentators, they take that verse and they say that this will happen in the rapture when Jesus comes again, the Holy Spirit will quicken our bodies. But he doesn't quicken our bodies. He gives us a brand-new body.

So, quicken your what? According to Romans 8:11, quicken your mortal bodies. That can only happen now. Sometimes before I sleep, I would just say, "Lord, as I sleep, let your Holy Spirit in me quicken my body with your resurrection life, with your healing". So, that happens in this life. So, until we see Jesus face to face, we can depend on the Holy Spirit. He's not just sent to teach us all things, guide us into all truths, especially to glorify Jesus. That is his first assignment, amen. But also to quicken our bodies, according to Romans 8:11. It says that, notice the triune God is involved in just one verse twice.

"If the Spirit," Holy Spirit, "of him," the Father, "that raised Jesus," the Son, can you see the triune God? "From the dead, if the same Spirit dwell in you, he," again, that he that, Father, "that raised up Christ from the dead," the Son, "shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit," the Holy Spirit. I think it behooves us to know what God is saying in this verse. And it all starts with, "There is therefore now no condemnation to them who are in Christ". You cannot believe wrong and expect the Holy Spirit to do what's right in your body, amen.

Okay, praise the Lord. You all can go home, right? That was good. If it didn't bless you, it blessed me. It was very good. You can go home with that one nugget, meditate on it, and I tell you, it will feed you for not just for one day, for months to come, just on that one verse, okay? So, the Holy Spirit comes in us, and we learned the last time is that there are two mountains that God talks about, primarily Mount Sinai as well as Mount Zion, remember that? And the Bible says, as children of God, you are not come to the mountain that burned with fire, tempers, smoke, and the sight was so terrible, it was dark, lightning, thunder, you know, and it was 9 o'clock in the morning, by the way.

And that's why the Holy Spirit came also on Mount Zion at 9 o'clock in the morning, amen. So, on Mount Sinai, when Moses went up the mountain and the people were below, there was lightning, thunder, and darkness. And the Bible says the best of them at that time would be Moses, isn't it? And Moses says, "I exceedingly was fearing and I was trembling". So, even the best of them trembled at Mount Sinai. So, the Bible says, children of God, and all the people said, talking to you, you are not come to that mountain, okay? Hebrews 12 tells us, "You have not come to the mountain that may be touched and that burned with fire, and to blackness and darkness and tempest".

Okay, you have not come. You have not come to this. "Even the sound of trumpet and the voice of words, that people who heard it begged that the word should not be spoken". It was so terrible that people begged, "Don't speak anymore," they told God. And that's where God gave the Ten Commandments, amen. No one can keep the law, hence they are always under the curse of the law. But praise God, Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law. Being made accursed for us himself at the cross, amen. Cursed is everyone that hangs on a tree. He took that curse. Praise the Lord.

Now, if you say, look at verse carefully, in verse 18, when you say, "You have not come to the mountain," what does that mean? That means we are not there. It doesn't say try not to come to the mountain. You don't belong there. Where do you belong? Drop down, drop down to verse 22. "You have come to Mount Zion". So, in verse 18 it says, "You have not come to the mountain," all right, you have not come. Say, "I have not come to Mount Sinai". "But you have come to Mount Zion". Say, "I have come to Mount Zion".

So, this is done already, it's a done deal. You have come to Mount Zion. Once you are born again, you are at Mount Zion. I said you are at Mount Zion. So, Mount Zion is not Mount Sinai. And for a greater part of our preaching and teaching in times past, in the church world, has been a lot coming out from Mount Sinai. Now, the thing is this. I've said before, Mount Sinai is good in terms of what it actually typifies, because all the rituals, all the ordinances, all the feasts, and all the Levitical offerings, the five offerings, is depicting our Lord Jesus Christ, his person and his work, amen. But today, we are not under the law in the sense that don't say, "Pastor Prince says, 'We are not under morality. You can do whatever you want.'"

I've never said that. Imagine a prince, okay, he has a large palace, of course, with servants and all that. And one day, all right, a new servant girl, a young servant girl came in to serve and all that. And the prince took a liking to her. And the king noticed that, okay? Now, all the servants abide by rules and regulations in the palace. At a certain time, they must get up. At a certain time, they must do all their dishes and laundry or whatever they are assigned to do, they must do that. But they are still servants in the house, okay?

So, this prince falls in love with a new servant girl. And the father noticed that, the king noticed that. And then tells him, "I give you my blessing". He marries her, okay? The first week of marriage, has her status changed? You all watch a lot of romantic dramas, and you all don't know. Has her status changed? Yes. Is she a servant? No. Now, we'll come to afterwards, after you are a son, then you can be someone who wants to serve the Lord Jesus Christ and call yourself the servant of the Lord Jesus Christ. But who you are is a son, okay? Now, he noticed one day that his wife went downstairs to look at the rules and regulations, and then she told him, "I'm so sorry I woke up late today. Half an hour late. And I just read downstairs the laws that governs the servant. And please, please, please, I didn't mean it".

Now, that spirit that she has, does it please him? No, why, why? "I'm so sorry". All right, whenever you make his eggs, it must be perfectly boiled, all right? It must be really nice. It cannot just be, you know, just, like, liquified kind of eggs, okay? So here, he sees all that and she says, "I'm so sorry, I broke your eggs today," okay? "It's all broken and runny. I'm so sorry. Please forgive me". No, that kind of spirit day in, day out, it's not going to please him, why? She's living according to the standards of the laws that govern the servants.

The Bible says you have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear, amen. Does that mean that she don't care about pleasing the husband? No, now she does it out of love. Does it mean that, oh, we are no longer under the law? We can do whatever we want and just go crazy? No, we do it out of love. Like I said before, you can try to keep thou shalt not commit adultery without loving your spouse. You just don't do it. Are you listening? You can thou shall not steal, you don't steal, but you're not working. You say, "Not working is a sin"? Yeah, try this on for size. It says, "If any will not work, neither should he eat".

Oh, that must be an Old Testament law. No, from Mount Zion. That was the apostle Paul's instruction. "If any will not work, neither should he eat. He is worse than an infidel". It's getting very quiet in this, all right, in this church, amen. You are thinking right. No, you want to serve. You want to serve with excellence, because you love him. And even when you fail to serve, there's no condemnation. Or, you know, you didn't serve well, there's no condemnation because it's not about you, it's about him, amen. And your relationship with him has changed, amen. Are you with me so far? Not only does grace make you love your spouse, but grace will also make you a giver, because the Ten Commandments never said, "Thou shall be generous and give".

It doesn't say that. Just don't steal. There are people who are very stingy, they don't steal, but everything is theirs. "Not anybody's, it's mine". Can you say that he didn't break the commandments? Yes, that law that says, "Thou shall not steal," yes. It's his, legally, it's his. No, grace makes us give and give and give, just like the rich young ruler, when Jesus gave him the law, he could hardly give. Not even one shekel. But the next scene you have, Zacchaeus. No laws given to Zacchaeus, just grace, and it says, "Whoever I have cheated, I will restore them fourfold. Half my goods I give to the poor".

Now, that doesn't mean it's a law for you. "From now on, as a Christian, half our", no, it's for him. That's what he wants to do. But the spontaneity of love, that's what happens when you're under grace. Are you with me so far? Okay, good? All right, so our bodies is what God is interested in as well. If not, when Jesus comes again, he will not give us a glorified body. He transforms our body into a glorified, immortal body, forever strong, forever healthy, forever young. Isn't that good? Those who have gone on before, they are in a better place than us, you know. It's okay to cry when they go. It's okay, because of temporary separation.

It's okay, but you better not cry as if you have no hope. We're not like people of the world. We know they've gone to a better place. My mother right now knows better than me, you know, the Bible. Those who have left us, they know better than Pastor Lawrence and Pastor Mark, amen. And they have muscles now that he doesn't have. Will we all look good? Yes, because every infirmity that you have is a result of the Fall. It was never meant to be. I said it was never meant to be, amen. So, you are come to where? Mount Zion. Notice that? "The city of the living God".

This is the city of the living God. God has moved mountains. The previous one you don't find in Mount Sinai, all right? If you read, it says blackness, darkness, tempest, judgment, the sound of trumpets. You don't find God there. But now, "The city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, to an innumerable company of angels". Angels are not in Mount Sinai anymore. They were there in the giving of the law, they were there. Now it's antiquated. God has moved mountains, and Mount Zion is a picture of the church. I said Mount Zion is a picture of the church, amen.

And it says, drop down, "You have come to Mount Zion, to the general assembly and church of the firstborn which are registered in heaven". Hey, registered in heaven, registered in heaven. We are all registered in heaven, amen. In the book of Nehemiah, it says, "Those who are registered, whose names are found, can eat of the most holy things," amen? "To God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of just men," that's my mother right there, "made perfect".

And right now, she is a part of the spirit of righteous people made perfect, amen? Drop down. "To Jesus," notice, God is there, Jesus is there also in Mount Zion. No longer in Mount Sinai. You go to Mount Sinai right now, there's nothing there, okay? Angels have moved over. God is here. And we have come to Jesus in Mount Zion, "The Mediator of the new covenant, to the blood of sprinkling that speaks better things than that of Abel," do you see that? So, what is Mount Zion? Mount Zion is a place, a habitation.

"But Pastor Prince, I learned from a Jewish friend that Mount Zion is Jerusalem". Yes and no. The location back then, Mount Zion is in Jerusalem. Mount Moriah actually, the city of David, okay, and then the place of the temple. That whole range is called Mount Zion. But even then, notice it's not Mount Sinai. Mount Sinai is in Arabia. This is now in Jerusalem. So, that whole area is Mount Zion. Are you with me so far? Are you with me? Okay, but spiritually, God is more interested in the spiritual meaning of that what is literal? Don't forget, when you read the Old Testament, whatever is in the past is literal.

All right, God has the truth from it. And you see the truth is pertaining to Christ. And it's in your interest to know things about Christ, because you are in him. Whatever he is, he is to you, amen. Whatever he has, you have as a joint heir, praise God? And I felt that that was communion with God. How wrong was I until the Holy Spirit opened my eyes. To have communion with someone is both of you are communing or fellowshipping over a common object. God delights in his Son. The whole Bible is a portrait of his Son. And the Son's work is found throughout the Bible.

Praise the Lord, lift your hands all across this place.

This coming week, I pray that the Father will unveil to you more and more of the beauties, the glories, and the excellencies of his beloved Son. The Holy Spirit give you eyes to see and a heart to hear. And may you see how all your interests, even your earthly interests, is all wrapped up in this wonderful person, this man that will one day come to rule. I pray in Jesus's name that the Lord will keep you and your paths straight throughout this week. I pray angels will attend your way, all your family's ways throughout this week and deliver you all from the power of the evil one. In the name of Jesus, and all the people said, "Amen".